The U13 ladies football team was Pride of the Parish over the Weekend winning the championship shield after a great battle with Clontarf in St Annes Park on Saturday. Well done to all the girls and to mentors Vinny Kehoe, Emma O’Farrell and Madeline Paget. The final score was Finbarrs 4-8 Clontarf 3-3.

The U21 footballers also had a good win (6-10 to 2-6) on Saturday in the first round of their football championship. On Sunday the junior hurlers had a hard fought 2-9 to 2-8 win away to St Pats of Donabate. This win ensures a promotion playoff game against Castleknock in Somerton on Wednesday 1st November at 7.30pm. The U12 hurlers beat Castleknock in their last game of the year and most other fixtures fell foul of the bad weather.

Our referees were very busy over the weekend with Thomas Gleeson taking charge of the Leinster Junior Championship game in Carlow on Saturday while on Sunday Terry Carton took charge of the Senior Hurling Championship semi final in Parnell Park. Both did a fine job.

The kitchen and bar was busy as always and preparations are well under way for our Halloween Disco next Monday night.

The weekend began with a bang on Saturday with 6 juvenile teams all in action away from home. Our bus drivers kept to their tight schedules so all teams arrived on time and played in some great games. The U14 footballers had a good win in Kilnamanagh against St Kevin’s/Killians 9-7 to 7-9 to keep up their good early season form. Also out in south Dublin, the U15 ladies footballers beat St Mary’s in Saggart by the minimum, 2-4 to 1-6 in a thrilling game.

On Sunday our senior hurlers began life in division 1 exactly where they left off last year with a six point victory over Parnells 1-13 to 0-10 in St Davids College. The junior hurlers drew with Na Fianna 3-10 to2-13 in a game where substitutes from both sides made a huge difference. Our minor footballers game with St Mary’s was abanded in the Bogies due to a nasty knee injury to one of the St Mary’s players, we wish him well. On the small pitch the U15 footballers enjoyed a fine victory over Castleknock.

The main event of the week was the Senior hurling championship game against Round Towers in Clondalkin on Saturday evening. A good crowd travelled over from Cabra to watch what turned out to be a very entertaining and tight game. First half goals from Ger Dodrill and Ryan Curley kept us in it at halftime having played against a strong breeze. We started the second half well, but had a man sent off in the 40th minute which allowed Towers back into the game. In the end we had just about enough and won by a single point 2-10 to 1-12. This leaves us with 2 wins from 2 games in the round robin group and well placed for another tilt at this championship.

The other big event of the weekend was the football Feile. This year we were in division 6 which took place in Lucan and we played against Lucan, Garristown and Vincents. Like the hurling, we were up against it as most of the players are still U13 but they put in a huge effort on Saturday and were awarded with a great win over Garristown.

There were a few midweek games last week, with the senior camogie team loosing out by a single point to Thomas Davis in the Bogies. On Wednesday the junior hurlers got their championship campaign off to a winning start with a good 8 point win away to Trinity Gaels. Our 3rd team continued their championship campaign on Sunday, but unfortunately lost out to Ballinteer by 10 points.

There were lots of other juvenile team in action on Saturday with a mixed bag of results, but with the good weather coming in and the evenings getting longer its all about taking part in games.

On Sunday morning our minor footballers continued their good league run with a hard fought win over Erins Isle in the Bogies. This win put them level at the top of the division 3 table with just 2 games left.

Last week there were a lot of midweek games on ahead of the Bank Holiday weekend. On Tuesday our Junior footballers were beaten by James Gaels after a strong second half performance from our opponents. Also on Tuesday night, in the Bogies, our U16 hurlers had a great win over Brigids. It was a very tight game but second half goals from Cillian Dempsey and Conor Carbury made the difference in a great win.

On Wednesday our Intermediate footballers were beaten by a single point by Brigids in Russell Park. It really was a game we should have won and halts the good run they had been on. They now get ready for the first round of the championship next week. Our senior camogie team also lost on Thursday night to Na Fianna, but the result could have been very different. Na Fianna took their scores better then we did, despite us having an equal share of the posession. Our U11 footballers kept their winning run going, with a home win over Maurs of Rush.

Also on Thursday our U13 hurlers were beaten by Sylvesters in Malahide while our U15s got a walkover from Na Fianna. On Friday the U12 footballers made a great comeback in the second half to beat Beann Eadair in a very windy Howth.

On Saturday our U13 hurlers competed in the Dublin Feile competition. Although playing teams a year older, the lads put in a great effort in terrible conditions, but ultimatley lost their 3 games. They can still be very proud of the work they put in, and will be ready again next yeat when the Feile comes around. the poor weather put pay to a lot of teh other games on Saturday. There were a lot of anxious pitch inspections done on Saturday afternoon by our minor mentors ahead of their game on Sunday!

Thankfully the pitch did get the go ahead and their hurling league game went ahead against neighbours plunketts. This is always a closely fought contest and this renewal proved no different. The large crowd gathered watched the Barrs fly into an early 7 point lead with some excellent scores. Plunketts narrowed the lead before the break, and they continued to pull us back in the second half. We scored 2 crucial goals at important times in the second half and with 10 mins to go the game was still in the balance. Our lads really stepped up in the remaining minutes and scroed 2-4 without reply to record an impressive 12 point victory.

It was a very busy weekend on the pitch with 17 matches taking place. First up was our U16 footballers in their re-arranged game against Maurs in the first round of the championship, on Thursday evening in the Bogies. It was a tight game with both teams having periods of dominance, but our lads produced a 5 point victory in front of a large crowd. They now go on to play Peregrines in the next round.

There was another good crowd in the Bogies on Friday night to see the U15 hurling game against O’Tooles. Again the crowd seemed to spur the lads on, and they played some of their best hurling yet, and recorded a great 5-8 to 2-4 victory to get their season back on track. Keep an eye on this team during the year!

On Saturday our 5 go-game teams were all in football action with the U11′s earning some well deserved medals in their blitz out in Garristown. Our U13′s were beaten by Kilmacud and the U16 hurling game against O’Tooles was called off. This meant the only game in the afternoon was our senior hurling league tie out in Lucan. They played with a strong breeze in the first half and went in 5 points up at the break. Our lads worked hard in the second half and had drawn level by the 45th minute. A soft goal then put Lucan 3 points up and undone a lot of our hard work. It was ultimately the goal that was the difference between the sides, we had 2 goal chances in the last 5 mins but didnt take them and Lucan won on a scoreline of 1-12 to 0-11.

Sunday was another busy day and the day’s action got under way with our U13 camogie girls taking on Whitehall in the Bogies. This was a top of the table clash and both teams gave everything in a cracking game. Our girls were unlucky to be on the loosing side, but they are still well in the hunt for promotion and will luck to get their winning run back on track next week. Our minor footballers produced some great attacking football to beat Na Fianna in their league clash also in the Bogies.

It was a mixed day for our 2 junior hurling teams, the first team beat Marks and the second team lost to plunketts. In Tallaght the lads ran up a good lead with the first half breeze and always kept their hosts at arms length in the second and were well worth their 13 point victory. This win sets them up for their championship campaign which kicks off later this month.

The weekend began as always with our young stars in Go Game action. The U11′s continued their great win out in Maurs of Rush and the U12 hurlers got a well deserved win in St Annes Park against Raheny. This was a great team performance with Daryll Noonan getting 2 vital scores. All their good work in training paid off for the lads with a great win.

Our U16 footballers travelled out to Rush to play Maurs in the first round of the championship, but an over-run of a feile competition meant that the game couldn’t go ahead. The game will now be replayed in the Bogies this Thursday evening at 7pm.

The main game of the weekend was the Intermediate football league tie with Fingallians on Saturday evening in the Bogies. Having made a mixed start to their league campaign a win was important, against one of the most consistent teams in the league in recent years. Our lads produced some great attacking football, with the pace of our forwards causing all sorts of problems. Two goals each from Wayne Losty and Sean Murphy saw us run out 7 point winners and get us back on track in the league. We will face the same opponents in the first round of the championship later this month.

On Sunday our junior 6 and U15 footballers were both beaten in their league games and our Junior 10 game has been switched to Tuesday night in Longmeadows. Our minor hurling league game did go ahead against Setanta after a late pitch inspection by the referee in Ballymun. Despite being 7 points down at halftime, the lads produced a great second half display to run out 6 point winners 2-13 to 1-10, with Conor Carbury, Chris O’Brien and Jordan Duque excelling.

Kevin’s Hurling Club in Dolphins Barn hosted their annual minor hurling competition on Easter Saturday this year. The 11-a-side competition is always very competitive and this year attracted teams from Lucan, Castleknock, O’Tooles, Plunkets, Setanta, Judes, hosts Kevins and ourselves. The games are 20 mins and the 8 teams were divided into 2 groups of 4 with the top 2 from each going into the semi finals. All placed balls scored are worth 2 points which makes discipline even more important to teams.

It was the lack of this discipline which cost the Barrs in our first game, as despite out scoring Lucan we lost out because of the high number of frees we conceded. It also took our lads a few mins to get used to the unusual format of 11-a-side games. Lucan went on to win their other 2 games and topped group 1. We beat Setanta in our second game which meant a draw with Judes in our final game would be enough to qualify for the semis. In a close game we got a late free to level up the game to get the draw we needed to advance on score difference. This set up a semi final with Plunketts who had won their group. This was probably our best performance of the day and saw us winning by 7 points. We had now qualified for the final, where we would once again meet Lucan, who had beaten Kevins in the other semi final.

The final was a very close encounter from start to finish with the lead changing hands on many occasions. At the end of the 20 mins the teams were level so a further 10 mins of extra time was needed to find a winner. Again both teams led in the first period but it was the Barrs who finished the stronger in the last 5 mins to win by just a single point 2-16 to 1-18 and claim the cup, which is named in memory of Brian Scott a former Kevins player. Captain Glen Dodrill accepted the trophey from Mrs Scott on behalf of the team. A special word of thanks should be paid to Kevins HC on hosting a great day of hurling.

The weather was the big winner of the weekend with lots of games being cancelled. On Saturday our Go Games teams did get to play with our U8′s winning their football blitz up in Castleknock and the lads came home with some well earned medals. Our U9′s also had a good win out in Rivervalley against St Finians. Our U11′s and U12′s and U16′s were all in action too on Saturday with some mixed bag of results. Our U13 hurlers had recorded a good home win on Thursday against Wild Geese.

On Sunday it was adult hurling which took centre stage with our seniors and juniors both in action in the Bogies. Our seniors recorded a one point (0-15 to 0-14) victory over St Pats from Palmerston, with Shane Commins hitting 0-9 from placed balls. This sets our lads up well for the rest of the year as we compete in division 1.

Our Juniors had a convincing 7 point win over Crumlin, to out their opening day defeat behind them, with some good performances from our younger troops.

There was a mixed bag of results for our underage teams last weekend, our U8, U9 and U10 footballers all won and lost some of their small sided go games, while our U11 kept their goor run going against Clan Mhuire. Our U16 camogie girls were beaten by Raheny out in St ANnes Park while our U16 hurlers had a comprehensive win over Castleknock in the Bogies. Our U15 hurlers lost out to Clana Gael while our U13 camogie girls received a walkover in their league. Our U11 ladies football team travelled up to Ashbourne to play a challenge game against Donaghmore.

For the adult it was the first weekend of hurling fixtures and our 3 teams were all down to play. Our seniors began their first campaign in the top flight since 2009 with a narrow loss to St Brigids in Russell Park. Despite loosing by the minimum margin, our lads will be happy with their performance and were unlucky not to snatch victory in the last minute, when Dublin goalkeeper Alan Nolan made a superb save from Ryan Curley.

Our Junior 5 hurlers began their campaign with a home game against Bray Emmets. Having missed out on promotion in the play-offs for the last 2 seasons, hopes will be high of going one better this year. However we did not make the best of starts loosing out by 9 points to a strong Bray side. Our 3rd team were beaten by erins Isle in Finglas but this team will no doubt improve as the season goes on.

Our minor footballers will be disappointed by their 4 point home defeat to Round Towers in their league game. A poor start which saw them concede 1-4 with out reply was ultimately their down-fall. they fought hard to claw back the lead but never quite got there, so they suffered their first defeat of the season.